Say Something
by SolarLunar
Summary: Becker had never said anything to make her think he liked her. And a girl can't wait around forever, especially when his flatmate starts to show interest. Jess/Becker
1. Chapter 1: Waking up

**Hello! I've finally sorted out a new idea for a story and found I get to try rom-com (seriously my head just does a lottery of genres).**

**OK, so this is a sequel as far as it picks up where 'Boxed and Locked' stopped and isn't a sequel as far as **_**it has nothing really to do with the story and may just have some passing references**_**; all you need to know is [spoilers] Becker's been injured and the ARC's been blown up. And you can probably pick up on that anyway.**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval. Or much writing skill, so this could go well... ;-)**

* * *

Jess woke later that afternoon. It took her a minute to regain her senses enough to recognise where she was and as soon as she had, the previous night's events came flooding back with startling clarity. The ARC was largely destroyed, Becker and Matt had been trapped and Lester was in trouble with Phillip... again.

She squeezed her eyes tightly closed as she tried to block out the bright light that was streaming through the window. It was daytime, which made sense as it was dawn when Becker had asked her to stay the night; she should go and check up on the Captain seeing as the general gist of her being here was to see he wasn't too concussed.

There was a chinking of crockery downstairs, a noise she immediately picked up on with her power of sight removed, heightening her hearing. She smiled, feeling safe in the knowledge that at least Becker was alright enough to get downstairs. Still, it meant she shouldn't remain in the guest bed, out of politeness.

She hauled herself upright and reached for her top, which she had left rumpled on the chair next to her bed. At least it wouldn't look as if she'd slept in it. Next, she swung her legs around, but decided that she wouldn't put on her heels; the carpet was soft and had a distinct 'Becker cleanliness' to it. The first thing she did was pull the curtains and blink at the Sun which was well passed its peak. What time was it? She hunted the room for a clock and found one on the wall. About twenty five to six. Well, it had been a long night.

Slipping out the room, she nipped into the bathroom quickly to sort out her hair and makeup before heading downstairs. She slowly turned left at the bottom of the stairs and noted the kitchen-esque room through one of the doors off the corridor where the clinking was originating from. She pushed back the door.

"Oh, hello! You still here?" asked a dark-haired man who was standing, shirt hanging out, frying some tomatoes. Jess was taken aback slightly, but then the memory of last night... well, this morning came back. This was the flatmate Becker had introduced her to.

"Erm... yes," stuttered the small woman. "It had been a long day. Obviously. Sorry, we woke you this morning. Didn't know Becker had a flatmate. He... doesn't talk much about himself at work."

Scott smiled. "I know. As a flatmate, it's something I notice." There was a crack from the frying pan and Scott sprung back hissing, bringing his arm to cradle. He moved over to the sink and started to run what Jess presumed was a burn under the cold tap. An awkward silence descended upon the kitchen as Jess watched Becker's rather good-looking, she'd admit, flatmate pull faces of irritation.

Realising that staring probably wouldn't create the best impression, Jess picked up the spatula and turned over the tomatoes which were starting to burn. She felt Scott's playful eyes on her and turned around.

"Thanks," he said. "Erm... don't really have any spare for you though. I work hard and expect good solid meals at the end of the day. Could do you some toast though. In that bread bin there and the toaster's next... well, you can see." Scott twisted the tap off and went to dry his hand.

"Oh, no, don't worry. I'd better check on Becker, then go home. My flatmates, especially one of them, can cause a bit of a mess when left alone." Scott's eyebrow raised questioningly.

"Check on Becker? Last I knew he was a grown soldier who could look after himself. Or so he said. I knew it; he was lying all this time." Jess smiled as she recognised the character of Becker appearing in Scott's attempts at humour.

"He was injured last night. Head injury. Hence..."

"Oooo, and you're nurse maid, are you?" quipped Scott, a glint forming in his eye. Jess shook her head in embarrassment. "Well, you see to your patient, while I make you toast; I'm not eating alone just because he can't be bothered to keep himself safe." Jess opened her mouth to protest, but closed it realising that she could only cause herself more trouble by refusing the offer at this current moment. She scuttled out of the door.

* * *

Unbeknown to Jess, her predictions were coming rather true across town. Abby had woken up to the smell of bacon... and burning.

"Connor!" she cried when she saw the state of the kitchen. There were saucepans piled in the sink, flour coating on the cupboard panels and what looked suspiciously like frying fat coating the cooker top. "What on Earth were you doing?" Her eyes then landed upon a black patch on the ceiling. "Connor!"

Connor was sat at the table, munching on a mouthful of mushy potato and bacon. His fork was poised in midair as Abby fixed him with a ferocious gaze. He carefully lowered the loaded utensil and swallowed. He glanced around the kitchen, then back to his girlfriend.

"I'll clean it up," he promised.

"And that!" Abby exclaimed. "That's a burn mark! How are you going to clean that?! How did you _manage_ that?!" She pointed at the dark patch and Connor followed her finger. He swallowed again, but this time there was no food involved.

"I only fell asleep for five minutes. Ten max."

"Connor..."

"Look, I woke hungry. All that running and climbing and... typing last night really took it out of me. So I decided that I would cook something simple." Abby frowned. "Bangers and mash! With bacon instead as we had no... bangers. It's as simple as you could do it, but I sat down for one minute while it was cooking and next thing I knew, there was a flame two foot high."

"You could've burnt the flat down," Abby complained.

"Minor issue. Still, the final result was OK." Abby sighed, determined not to get into a pointless argument after everything that happened last night. She sat down heavily opposite and stole Connor's fork to try a bit. Nodding, she had to admit it was tasty and Connor pushed the plate to the middle of the table and grabbed another fork to share.

After a minute of silence, Abby suddenly frowned again. Connor looked at her, aware of a problem.

"Connor. Why is there flour everywhere?" Connor halted mid-chew.

* * *

Jess swallowed another piece of toast, trying not to cringe at the bitter burnt taste, but keep up a respectful smile. She'd come downstairs, after finding Becker fast asleep still, to a smoking toaster.

"You really don't have to eat that."

"No, it's fine."

"I know it's burnt."

"It's OK."

"I can find a... grape somewhere." Jess paused as she ate, then swallowed.

"_A_ grape."

"Well, several, then," answered Scott. "You are so demanding. Surprised Becker can stand having you as a girlfriend." Jess choked on her mouthful, coughing on the blackened crumbs.

"No, no, no. We're not together. I'm... just a colleague." She resumed her eating with intense concentration, missing the small smile that formed on Scott's face, as he lent back from his empty plate, arms behind his head. "I co-ordinate and direct him," clarified Jess, desperately trying to draw the subject away from her.

"Ah, the mystery job. He won't tell me anything about it, you know." Jess opened her mouth, but Scott waved her away. "Don't worry. It's classified and that's all I care. I don't want black ops appearing in the middle of the night. I get enough nights broken by him." He picked up his plate and stood up, grabbing Jess' as well, which still had half a slice of carbon left on it. She went to protest. "Oh, come on. You don't want this. It could be used as grit for the roads." He turned and went to chuck everything in the sink, toast and all.

Jess stood, at once more comfortable around the man. The things she'd told men she was ranged from the boring (secretary) to the downright absurd (wombat tamer) depending on how flustered she was and how much she'd had to drink; the wombat tamer was at three o'clock in the morning on a friend's hen night. It felt nice not to have to cover.

"What about you? Interesting job?" Jess perched herself on the corner of the table as Scott ran some water over the plates, sighing as the toast caught in the trap, causing a backflow. He turned to Jess swiftly.

"I'm a PE teacher so make your own judgements. Was..." Suddenly, Scott was cut off by a ringing upstairs. Jess' eyes widened as she recognised the tone.

"That's my phone," she explained, before jetting out the kitchen and up the stairs and reaching the phone just as it rang off. Cursing, she checked the screen and found it to be Abby. A couple of seconds later, a voice message was left, which made Jess worry; must be important.

Scott entered the room having followed her up the stairs. He leant against the door frame and Jess hurriedly called her messages and placed the phone to her ear, holding out a finger asking Scott to wait silently.

"...nor, don't do that! Jess! Jess! There's a bit of a problem at the flat... Connor! It's making it worse! Get a damp... One of the cooker rings was left on and now... You can't use that!... Look, if you could get back here soon-ish, I think we may need to turn off the electric and I don't know where the switch is... Get the extinguisher!... And I can't leave Connor with the fire. Sorry! Bye!"

The message came to an end and Jess hung up sharply. Stuffing the phone back in her bag, she grabbed her coat left on the same chair as her shirt had been and turned to Scott, pushing past him.

"I've got to get home now. Thanks for everything and... Becker! You're awake." The Captain emerged from his room with a surprised look on her face. Jess turned to Scott. "You can take him from here. I have to go." Becker blinked, confused, then looked at Scott, who shrugged. Jess ran down the stairs.

"Mate, you've got a hair out of place," said Scott unhelpfully, before rushing after Jess. Becker remained on the landing, bemused and with a spinning head which couldn't cope with all the input it suddenly had.

Scott caught up with Jess on their front door step. He grabbed her arm, causing her to jack-knife round sharply into him, losing her footing as she went. He grabbed her other arm and steady her.

"First, if you're going to drive, calm down." Jess nodded and took a few calming breathes. "Secondly, will you go on a date with me?" Jess' eyes widened. "Give me your number and I'll call you later." He smiled pleasantly. "Once you've saved your flatmates and I save Becker's sanity." Jess' breathing picked up again.

"You're very forward."

"I always try to grab the numbers of panicked girls, so their judgement is down. Being forward helps," he explained, deadpan. Jess giggled nervously, but pulled out a pen and paper and scribbled down her number hurriedly. She chucked the paper at Scott, so he had to reach to catch it, while she sprinted down the path before she could think about what such an action meant.

Five minutes later, in her car, she still couldn't work out if it was a good idea.

* * *

**Please review. Gives me writing power. =-)**


	2. Chapter 2: Flowers vs Candles

**Hello. So this is fairly quick for me. It's almost as if I've been trying to avoid thinking about what today is... Anyway, it means that this chapter is ready. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval. But I do own chocolate, which fills the hole.**

* * *

The following day Jess returned to the ARC and was surprised by the amount of work that had been achieved while she'd been asleep the previous day. There was scaffolding covering the side of the building that had a hole in it and corridors were blocked off by bee-striped tape, which Jess noted Connor ignored more often than not.

Luckily, the ARC room was unscathed, which Jess was very grateful of as it meant there was no construction workers throwing up dust everywhere and getting all over the keyboard, monitors and, worse, her clothes.

And the bouquet of flowers that had been left on the desk. They were there when she got in, a small clump of various colours. She'd ignored them initially, not understanding that they were meant for her until her curiosity got the better of her and she peeked into the attached post-it – it just said 'Jess'. She'd never particularly liked flowers, the fear of hidden insects always dampening the effects of them. Obviously, whoever had left them there didn't know her very well, perhaps a distant admirer, and she placed them well away from her so they didn't get in her way while she worked.

After a couple of hours, Becker suddenly appeared at her side, in his usual manner, causing Jess to jump. He handed her a pile of paper for processing, but then, unlike normal, he loitered, rearranging the flowers. Jess swung around to face him properly.

"Can I help you?"

"Erm... thanks for looking after me yesterday." Jess felt a little quiver of excitement run down her spine – Becker was thanking her personally. "Hope you like the flowers." Jess' heart fell as she recalled her previous thought and true to everything she felt, the evidence was apparent on her face.

Becker frowned. "Is there something wrong? You don't have hay-fever do you?" He looked a little unsure of himself.

"Oh no, they're wonderful." Jess smiled as drew them closer and braced her nerves for a sniff. "Just... surprised."

Becker smiled. "Did you think they were from Connor?" he joked, a little more reassured that his gift had gone down well. "Abby is still waiting on him?" The smile disappeared as he saw Matt approaching. He made his excuses and left hurriedly, aware that someone may have seen the lapse in his demeanour; as if there hadn't been enough the past few days.

Jess sat there with the flowers and wondered how far away she could push them so it merely looked as if they were out of the way rather than she didn't want them near her. She eventually placed them by the far left monitor, by the black boxes, hoping they'd get knocked if there was an anomaly.

* * *

She didn't think about the implications of the gesture until several hours later as she was just about to go home. She was just shutting down the ADD when her phone pinged again. As she was almost done for the day, she picked it up, even though she knew it couldn't be a work message.

_So about that date... You free tomorrow? I know a little place we can eat. Scott_

Jess started at the text; she'd almost completely forgotten about Scott. Her fingers trembled slightly with nervous excitement, but then her eyes fell on the bouquet of flowers. Ok, they weren't the ideal gift for her, but how was Becker supposed to know? He was only getting a small present as a Thank-you.

It was only a small present as a Thank-you she reminded herself mentally. Like that chocolate had been because she'd asked for it and all those little smiles around her had been because she'd let her mouth run away with her again. It meant nothing. It meant nothing.

_Sure. What time? Jess_

_What time do you finish? Actually, you might keep Becker's schedule and I'm not waiting that long. Pick you up at 7? Send me your address._

The response was almost immediate, which Jess was glad about as it meant she had less time to distract her from the flowers, but the mention of Becker made her heart pump that little bit faster. For goodness' sake, she wasn't cheating on him; they weren't going out. And meeting Scott might just turn out to be friendly. She hit reply quickly.

She soon got a response.

_Thanks. See you tomorrow. X_

Ok, he definitely didn't view this as friends. She bit her lips and her fear.

_Brilliant. See you._ She couldn't be rude, so she added: _X_

She didn't notice Abby and Connor approached. Abby grabbed her arm as she put back her black box and Jess flinched slightly and the blond frowned and then noticed the bouquet.

"Got an admirer?" She checked the post-it. "Yes, you do. Do you know...?"

"It was Becker. As a Thank-you," interrupted Jess briskly, then added more quietly. "Just a Thank-you." Abby pulled a sympathetic face, but Jess knew she didn't really understand, so grabbed her coat and the flowers and went to go.

* * *

Later that evening, Abby came to sit by Jess on the sofa with a cup of tea for each of them. The pair sat for five minutes in silence, until Jess was certain Abby had something to say, but couldn't work out how to approach the subject. Jess let her stew.

"If I hadn't been very positive in my actions, Connor would have never asked me out."

"Abby. You got stuck in the Cretaceous. I'm not waiting for that!" Abby breathed in deeply.

"What I meant was... you have to take action yourself."

"I have. I have a date tomorrow night. At seven. And you are not to set the kitchen on fire again, because if you do, I may just let you burn." The pair looked around at the blackened area which used to be a kitchen. Jess realised that any diet plans she ever tried to have where stopping now; they were living off take-aways for the next few weeks.

Abby turned back. "You have a date? So what's that prob..."

"With his flatmate."

To say that Abby's face was a picture didn't do it justice. Her mouth hung open and her eyes practically popped. She glanced to the flowers on the coffee table and back to Jess.

"But..."

"They were just a Thank-you. That's all. And that's all they'll ever be." Jess turned to face her friend. "There are stacks of reasons why we aren't a suitable couple and..."

"Name one!"

"What? You want me to pick out my faults now, do you? I just think maybe its just close proximity that attracted me to him." Abby opened her mouth. "And don't argue! Let's face it, you want another couple in the ARC to annoy Lester as much as anything." Abby opened her mouth, but paused momentarily.

"Truuue. But I also want to see to people who obviously like each other together. And he does like you. What if this jars him into action? Who would you choose?" Jess thought for a moment.

"Don't tell Becker."

"What?! Jess..."

"Just while I get to know Scott so I can tell if he's... right or not. If he isn't, then little damage is done. If he is, well, Becker should have said something earlier and it's his hard luck."

Jess slumped back and refused to answer Abby's pleas for sanity. Finally, Connor came in, bringing the conversation to an abrupt end; if Connor knew, neither girl was in any doubt that Becker would know accidently within days.

* * *

Scott picked her up at 7 on the dot, something which immediately endeared him to Abby who was getting rather fed up with Jess' fussing. The woman had changed her dress twice in the last hour, only to realise that this meant her make-up didn't match; the bathroom was covered in wet wipes. Abby eventually dragged her out when the doorbell went and pulled her down the stairs, a dangerous activity given the size of Jess' heels.

Jess, for her part, had butterflies, centipedes and other bugs crawling round her stomach. She hadn't concentrated on her work that day and Lester almost asked her what was wrong at one point, until he noticed Abby trying to have a heart-to-heart and decided that this was outside his expertise. By the time she got in Scott's car, she'd blanked all the questions that she would normally ask on a first date. Luckily, Scott didn't seem to pick up on this.

"So, tough day at work?" he asked casually.

"Classified," said Jess automatically, then blushed as she realised that this was a conversation starter, not an interrogation. Thankfully, Scott just seemed to find this funny.

"Ah. I can see why they employ you in a secret facility. No spy will ever get past you." Jess blushed harder. "Let's try a different question. Erm... what colour is your favourite pen?"

"What?"

"Oh, is that classified too?" Scott glanced briefly across to Jess with a twinkle in her eye, who felt herself relax a little. "Erm... what's your favourite number then? Unless you've used it in some secret Government programme."

"Red," giggled Jess.

"Odd number... is it a code?"

"No," replied Jess. "It's a pen my Mum gave my last Christmas with heart shaped light on it. No, my favourite number is eight, which a code... or odd actually." Scott frowned at her and mouthed eight in mock disgust. Jess giggle again. "I like it because it's so close to infinity, while being so small."

"What... oh, of course. Nice pick. Oh hang on, we're nearly there."

The restaurant was down a small street. It bathed the pavement outside in light and the decor was a relaxing, yet subtly romantic, cream with red accents. The waiter showed them promptly to a table in a corner with a candle producing a soft vanilla scent as it burnt. Jess smiled at the touch which seemed exclusive to the one table. She turned to Scott who just shrugged.

"It was this or some flowers and I thought you seemed more of a candle person. Am I wrong?" Jess turned back swiftly, hiding the brief expression of guilt that she knew would be crossing her face at the reminder of Becker. She mentally shook the thought away – Scott was doing more for her than Becker had done.

"No. It's perfect." She seated herself quickly, realising the waiter was waiting for them to sit in order to hand them menus. Scott followed suit and opened the booklet handed to them. After Jess had surveyed for a few seconds, he glanced up again.

"Pick anything. I'll pay."

"Oh no! I brought money." Scott looked at her properly, meeting her gaze, before looking down again.

"Ok. I won't use my money on independent women." He peeked over the top of his menu and Jess smiled and settled down to pick. "But I've already bought the wine, so ha!" Jess breathed in and her smile grew wider.

* * *

The evening wore on and Jess settled into her overly talkative, confident state again. She noticed that she found herself relax around the man, especially as every time the ventured near work, and more specifically, _her _work, Scott would make a joke or an off-beat comment which drew the conversation away.

She found that Scott had met Becker at University; they were on the same course, but Becker was a few years older than him and the friendship had lasted while Becker went into the army and Scott took on teacher training. They found they both needed accommodation in London at about the same time so it made sense to find it together.

Scott work at a Secondary School, which he refused to give the name of in case Jess 'turned out to be a nutter and posted rude posters around the school'. He'd been to several countries on Sports tours and Jess found herself engrossed in the stories he had of taking school children on such trips. The waiter had to interrupt them, to take away the bill, before they escaped to the fresh air of late evening.

"So, how many out of ten?" asked Scott as they walked over to the car. Jess pondered a good response to such a question and swung around gently.

"Eight." In the dim streetlight, Jess couldn't make out the face of Scott and couldn't judge this answer. There was a pause for a second and Scott pulled out her keys to open his car.

"Close to infinity. What was wrong?"

"I prefer _red_ wine," answered Jess, aware that her voice was slightly freer in an effect that could only be achieved by drinking said wine. That said she wasn't drunk, just... perfect. She climbed into the car, which felt warm in contrast to the outside. "You OK to drive?"

"I only had half a glass two hours ago. Lucky I only bought a half bottle. Planned you know. Especially since we both have work in the morning, which my independent woman must go to to pay for the half she insisted on paying."

Jess sniffed and turned to her. "_Your_ independent woman?" she asked, wryly. She fastened her seat belt and sat up properly. "You're forward. And this time, I'm not panicking."

"Which surely means a second date?" Scott brought the sentence to question as he looked to the woman he'd successfully wooed. "Because I had fun. Which admittedly didn't take much seeing as the alternative was an evening with Becker eating cheap pizza."

Jess grinned quickly at the image of Becker eating pizza, but it brought up the issue of keeping everything a secret from the Captain; she didn't know how to approach the subject, which surely had to happen for it to be a secret, without Scott growing suspicious of the connection between the two.

"By the way, would you mind keeping it secret from Becker?" asked Scott suddenly. Jess baulked as the man jumped her gun. "Only he may well lecture you on every disgusting habit I have and I'd like you to have the joy of chancing upon them. Plus he knows and sees both of us, regularly, you know... I'd rather get to know you personally than have tales of what you did at the office Christmas party going round my head."

"Yes," said Jess, breathlessly, then recovered herself a little. "I mean, I understand..." She nodded as if she was contemplating the idea, rather than trying to steady her mind from the narrow escape. "Yeah, sure, seems a good idea."

Scott smiled. "Also means I don't have to listen to him telling him I'm too forward and without that I wouldn't be able to do this..." Scott leant across the gear stick and kissed her quickly on the cheek, before retreating a couple of inches. Jess' eyes flickered open after they had automatically closed. She looked him deep in the eye, as she went to kiss him on the lips softly.

The kiss wasn't long, or very deep, but the meaning as there, felt by both and when they withdrew, they paused a moment, letting it linger a little longer.

Jess bit her lip and moved backwards and Scott followed her actions, turning the key in the ignition as they sat in silent, neither quite confident to look across to the other, yet happy they knew what the expression would be.

* * *

**Opinion? Comment? Review. ... Please.**


	3. Chapter 3: Washing the Dog

**Hello! Well, this is a long chapter, but it grew and grew and I really wanted to leave on the cliff-hanger I did. Hope you don't mind. So, there's a lot of romance and action. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval. Or many more ideas for the disclaimer.**

Abby was still up when Jess got home, watching some late night TV in her pyjamas. Upon noticing the appearance of the co-ordinator creeping towards the stairs with her heels dangling from one hand, Abby chucked a cushion at the woman, which harmlessly bounced off one arm. Jess squeaked and put her heels down in order to throw it back. Abby ducked and the cushion overshot, narrowly missing Becker's flowers. The blond looked back to her friend.

"So... going back to Becker?" asked Abby hopefully. Jess slumped at the mention of the Captain's name. After the kiss, her mind was in a whirl and she had temporarily forgotten that she was, essentially, playing this man for the first few dates. She moved round and slouched on the sofa.

Abby moved closer, her heart sinking as she realised that Jess' problems had just been made more complicated. She slung an arm loosely around her friend, who looked at her with teary eyes.

"He was wonderful. Funny, intelligent, attentive, relaxed... he's everything I'd look for in a man," Jess sobbed." Abby patted her on the back, unable to offer consolation for what was an enviable position to be in. "He knew to avoid my work, laughed at everything I said, no matter how unfunny and her thought my favourite number was red..." Jess broke down as Abby tried to make sense of what she'd just heard, but she had a feeling she had to have been there.

"Jess," she said softly. "Don't worry; all the men I've ever dated pull out all the stops on t he first date. It can... only get... worse from here?" Jess looked at Abby, who pulled up, her mind struggling to understand how this was suddenly comforting.

However, her mind quickly put this confusion to one side as it saw that the tears had indeed been stemmed and an expression akin to hope unveiled itself on Jess' face.

"You really think so?" Abby leapt upon this breakthrough.

"Yes, of course. He took you to one of the more expensive, classiest restaurants he could afford, didn't get overly drunk and... crossed his legs. Perfect date." Jess sniffed, wiped her eyes and grabbed her handbag, standing up."

"Of course. You're right. Thanks Abby. You've been a great help. I'll see you in the morning." And so, a more cheerful Jess went to the stairs again. Just as she put her foot on the bottom step, Abby called after her.

"By the way, have you drunk any alcohol tonight?"

Jess blushed. "A bit. Why?"

"Never mind. Just... good one of us had." Jess frowned and shook her head, before making her way upstairs.

Abby's claim turned out to be unfounded. A week later, Scott took Jess out to the cinema to watch a film he'd chosen. It was perfect, a great blend of action, comedy and peril, which made Jess squeeze into his arms with nerves as she laughed.

Then, he took her to a comedy show he'd managed to get tickets for.

Then, they went swimming. Then, a West End show. As each date went by and Jess returned home with a smile on her face, Abby's heart fell. It was clear this was no longer a fling, but a full relationship. This had become serious.

And Becker still didn't know. A couple of dates could be passed off as simply none of his business or something that wasn't important enough to mention, but it was way past that stage and when he found out, which Abby was sure he would, he'd be annoyed at the two people he thought he could trust concealing something from him.

Abby couldn't help feel a certain allegiance to the Captain; after all, she'd known him longer than she had Jess and he'd saved her life, and her brothers'. She'd eventually decided that a limit had to placed on Jess, who had, accidently, placed herself at the centre of a love triangle and didn't quite realise yet. Abby decided that as soon as the construction work was complete, she'd confront the field co-ordinator, reasoning Becker had extra work to worry about with construction workers and holes in the wall.

Therefore, one Friday as the final workers put up the WET PAINT signs, Abby waited until her lunch break and then approached the ADD, checking no-one else around. Jess turned slightly to see who it was. She caught Abby's face and closed a couple of windows before swinging round to face her.

"What's wrong?" she questioned.

"You have to tell Becker." Jess baulked at the suggestion, but quickly recovered to fiddle with the end of the desk. She waited a second to see if there was going to be anything else added to this order. Abby just stared at her.

"It's none of his business," she whispered.

"Yes it is," stated Abby. "As soon as you decided to keep it a secret from him, he became part of the relationship, even if he's not on the dates." Abby sighed. "Jess, it's been nine dates – almost one a week. You can't not mention them; normally everyone in the ARC would know within a day of the first dat. You chat and gossip. It's what you do." Jess pulled her chair back round forcefully.

"So I can't have any privacy." She noticed Abby roll her eyes. "Look, it's not just me. Scott doesn't want to tell him either..."

"Don't you think that's strange," interrupted Abby. "I mean, you tell me all about your dates and I'm no closer to you than Becker is to Scott, surely. You need to approach the subject with him anyway, so do it sooner rather than later."

Jess sighed and clicked her mouse aimlessly a few times. Abby had a point; Becker had been mentioned, several times, because he was the common friend, but there had never been any talk of informing him of the... relationship Jess admitted they had formed.

Her phone beeped and she grabbed it hurriedly, desperately grateful for a distraction. She opened the screen and her heart fell. It was a message from Scott, not a distant, but pressing text.

"Scott wants to meet up tonight. Take me out for a meal." She twisted the phone around a few times in indecision. Abby leaned in slightly and spoke into Jess' ear.

"Go and then you can talk to him about Becker."

"I can't. It'll bring the mood down." Abby sighed, but realised that the only way anything was going to happen was if she put the squeeze on the pair. The guilt of the action played heavy upon her heart, but she also knew it was for the best.

"Jess, I'm sorry, but if he doesn't know by next Wednesday, I'm going to tell him." Jess whirled around so quickly it almost pushed Abby off the plinth. Her face was a picture of hurt, betrayal and anger at the threat, but Abby determinedly stood her ground, keeping Jess' gaze; she was, after all, the one with the moral high-ground she told herself.

Jess stared at her for thirty seconds, searching for any signs that there was something she could say to persuade Abby that that wouldn't help, but for every argument she formed, she immediately spotted the flaw and found her mind going round in circles. Eventually, she broke the gaze, softening her expression to one of sadness and confusion.

"Fine. I'll ask him. But Abby?"

"What?" said Abby, gently.

"If Scott comes up with a good reason, a decent, sound reason, why he doesn't want Becker to be told, will you keep quiet?" Abby opened her mouth, but Jess waved her quiet. "No, I can't think why either, but then there can always be something unexpected with these things. So, please, listen to the reason first."

Abby nodded, allowing the pair one concession, if just because she didn't want to feel as if she was invading the relationship too much. She'd always had problems with Connor and Caroline, but looking back, she wondered if she hadn't been the cause of a few of them, even aside from Caroline's deception; she hoped she didn't get overly involved here.

Scoot picked Jess up at seven, drove her out of London and kept going. Jess watched out the window as she watched the city disappear. They turned off the motorway after about half an hour and they found themselves on a minor road which wound through some countryside.

"Where are we going?" asked Jess, smiling at her driver.

"Well, I thought as its Friday and you and I don't have to be at work bright and lively tomorrow, I'd take you to a country pub. It'll be quieter than the city and they do a mean steak and ale pie." He looked across at her and winked.

Jess laughed, but could already feel the butterflies multiply. All the day she'd been thinking of Abby's threat and the thought of an awkward trip was made worse by the length it would be. She shook the idea from her mind; it wouldn't be awkward. It was a natural enquiry. After all, she did work with Becker and she liked to gossip; surely, he'd worked that out.

They pulled up about forty five minutes after they'd left in car park at a place called 'The Horse and Hound'. It was a rural pub and was busy without being crowded. Scott led her through to the bar and enquired after the table he'd booked earlier in the day. The barmen pointed them towards a table in the corner, near the open patio doors and Jess sat down as Scott brought drinks.

"So, what do you think?" he asked as he placed a glass of wine in front of her. Jess glanced around.

"It's brilliant. Thanks. How do you know about these places?" Scott took a sip of his lemonade, specially bought so he could drive, then placed it down carefully.

"How do most people find out about these places? Internet, of course." Jess giggled. "No, one of my friends took a gap year working here. Came here a few times to support him. I'll tell you, one time..."

There was a familiar squeak originating from Jess' handbag. Scott blinked slowly and silently closed his mouth, before leaning back. Jess blushed, but reached down for the offending object anyway, aware that it could be the ARC.

It was. She glanced up at Scott who raised his eyebrows, placing his hands behind his head. Jess quickly calculated the distance she was from the ARC, the time it would take and whether there'd be any point her actually trying to get in. She concluded no.

"It's work. Give me a second and I'll phone in to say I can't come." Scott looked surprised.

"Really? You'll give up work for me? I feel honoured." Jess smiled at his antics as she dialled Abby. "I mean it. Whenever Becker got a call, that was it; he was gone. I'd think he'd walk out of his own wedding of texted. Mind you..." Jess put her hand over the receiver and leaned across to him.

"Do you want me to cancel on them?" Scott leaned in, suddenly serious.

"Yes."

"Then shut. Up." Scott's reply was to put out his tongue, but he remained silent. "Abby!... Yes, I know... Look, I'm out of town... we went to a country pub... No, it's not seedy... _Abby!_... Look, there's little chance I'll back in time to help in any meaningful way, so... Yes. Please... On what condition?" Jess sighed and paused to weigh up the options. She relented. "Alright... Thanks... Bye." She hung up.

"What's she told you to do? Not kill me, right? 'Cos I don't know that much. About anything," said Scott, watching the phone being put away, but noticing it wasn't turned off. Jess sighed.

"No. She said she'd tell Lester, that's my boss, as long as I helped clean Connor's clothes next time she felt like facing them." Jess sat up properly. "It is a fair deal really."

"Connor? That's her boyfriend..."

"And a flatmate of mine as well. He gets into quite a pickle, quite a lot, so the washing machine can't always handle it. So, it gets hand washed." Jess took a sip of wine.

"And he doesn't do it, because..."

"He did once." Jess took another sip.

"And?" pressed Scott.

"I'm already having to buy a new kitchen 'cos of him. I don't want to have to buy a new sink. Again."

"Why isn't she here?" persisted Becker as the group raced along in one of the SUVs. "I mean, this is a distance out, most of them are. She could have easily finished and come in in time to direct us at the scene." Matt didn't turn to face the Captain.

"Come on, Becker. She's entitled to a little bit of free time now and then."

"Yes, but to wash the dog! I didn't even know she had a dog!"

"It's a friend's dog," grimaced Abby, who was having a thoroughly awful time creating lies on the spot. "She's dog sitting it again, like when she brought it into work." There was a silence as everyone reminisced about Lester's anger about that one. It was broken by a car horn going off on the motorway.

"How much further is it?" complained Connor, not enjoying having to sit in the back with a grumpy Becker. Everyone else sighed in exasperation. Becker turned to him.

"You remember last time you asked? Takeaway five minutes for that time."

Thirty minutes past and Jess and Scott relaxed back into the meal, more sure that they weren't going to be interrupted. Jess, however, was beginning to wish she had gone as she turned her food over and over, but the call had reminded her of Becker and Abby's threat. Scott continued eating and chatting though, so caught up he wasn't aware of the turmoil inside of Jess.

"...so I told him that shoes were actually the result of an artist who was inspired by the black socks his white cat had. He seemed to believe it." Scott grinned as he took another bite.

There was a deep, faint roaring, which suddenly filled the pub and people fell quiet at the noise. Jess looked up at Scott, who glanced around at the other diners and the few men propping up the bar. There didn't seem to be anything else untoward though and he looked back to Jess.

"Jess, I didn't know you were that hungry sti..." There was another roar, this time louder.

A man dressed in a white coat suddenly came crashing through the door from the kitchen. The coat was stained red in places and his face was pale. A couple of screams went up.

"THERE'S A MONSTER IN THE PARLOUR!" he shouted before running to the patio doors and out into the garden. On cue, a clattering came and another two men stumbled out of the kitchen, both shouting incomprehensively.

On this evidence, everyone was up and running towards the nearest door. More screams went up again and Jess just saw the kitchen doors opened again, but she was unable to see what was happening over people's heads. However, the texts she'd received earlier ran through her mind and she hopped onto her seat to see if her suspicions could be confirmed.

A hand grabbed her and she squeaked. Looking down, she saw Scott shouting at her, but his words were lost. She glanced back up and found that some people had cleared and she could see the creature. Her heart pumped dramatically as she eyed the dinosaur that snapped at legs.

The beast turned on her and she shoved Scott out of the way just in time for the creature's lunge to miss him and for its head to come into contact with the table. Seeing the doors were blocked, she dragged Scott over to the bar, using the dinosaur's dazed state to buy them time.

She hopped over the counter and Scott followed, unwilling to let her out of his sight. The creature twisted round to see them disappeared behind the bar. It scrambled over the slippery surface and Jess tugged Scott to one side again.

At the last second, she realised her mistake. She'd shoved them toward the solid end of the bar, where there was no door and pumps to stop them escaping again. The creatures sensed his quarry was cornered and moved in. Scott picked up a bottle and threw it at it, but it smashed harmlessly to one side and simply enraged the beast more.

The creature leaned back, ready to make its final pounce. As it leapt, Jess felt her heart leap too, into her throat and she cowered down slightly, preparing herself for the claws to meet her flesh. Scott held her close to him and she buried her face in his chest.

Ten seconds later, she peeked, wondering why she was still alive. Her eyes widened as she saw the dinosaur lying prone on the ground and Becker behind it, his EMD drooping from where he'd shot the creature.

"Jess? Scott? What are you doing here!?"

**So, for my regular readers, there's a cheeky nod to 'Pets', one of my 'Anomalies' stories. Do check it out if you haven't read it (plug!)**

**As always, please review!**


	4. Chapter 4: An Awkward Moment

**Hello. So, in this chapter there is (I hope) a major cringe factor – well, it had to be done at some point surely. For those of you who don't know Private Stevens, he's essentially a soldier form of Connor, but possibly more blundering – if that's possible. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval. In this Universe. Or in any other, come to think of it.**

* * *

Matt burst in, creating a distraction Jess took full advantage of. She peeled herself away from Scott and carefully and with purpose stepped delicately over the still body that lay behind the bar. She slipped up onto the bar counter and eased herself over gingerly, aware of Becker's eyes on her. She brushed her dress off and faced the team leader fully.

"So, what's this one?" She gestured at the creature without turning around. Matt, surprised to see Jess standing in front of him, checked cautiously over the edge of the bar, and then aware of a tension in the room glanced up at the two men, one of whom was staring at the other, who was staring at Jess. He felt very out of his depth.

Fortunately for Matt, Connor came bouncing in and, true to form, ignored the situation that was brewing. He even failed to identify Jess in his rush over to the bar to see what Matt was trying to concentrate on in an effort to ignore everything else. Connor eyed the dinosaur.

"Deinonychus. From the Cretaceous Period." Connor looked at Matt. "Have you found the anomaly yet? 'Cos they normally tracked larger groups of herbivores."

"No, not yet," replied Matt, relieved to have someone to hold a less awkward conversation with, especially as Connor hadn't noticed the tension.

"One of the cooks said it came out of the parlour," put in Jess, eager to find a job to do.

"Thanks Jess," said Connor absently, then paused as he headed towards the door. "Jess! What are you doing here?"

"That's what I want to know," stated Becker firmly. "And, more to the point, what are you doing here with Scott?" Scot straightened at this and folded his arms, although he made no move towards the creature, which he was still unsure about and felt very left-out for being so.

"I took her out for a meal here. And that would be a problem why exactly?" he asked, a touch annoyed. Jess paled at the tone of voice, feeling very self-conscious as she realised this would be an amicable talk.

The opposite could be said about Connor, who was still a little behind everyone else on the atmosphere. He opened his mouth to mention the dinosaur problem, but Matt grabbed him by the arm and dragged the young scientist to the kitchen doors, silencing the man with his eyes.

Becker broke his gaze from Jess and focussed upon Scott. Abby popped into the room and glanced between the three people. Using prior knowledge, she quickly caught onto the gist of the situation and, noticing the swinging door to the kitchen, eased hurriedly around the edge of the room, trying to be as quiet as possible. The three largely ignored her, until she appeared again around the door.

"You couldn't bring that to the anomaly soon-ish, could you?" Becker turned to look at her and she nervously smiled. "Thanks." She disappeared again, leaving the trio alone.

"You never take girls to here for a first date," asserted Becker. Jess' eyes widened at the fact Becker knew that much about Scott's dating style. "Normally, it takes about two to three months." Jess gaped and Becker noticed Jess' reaction. "Jess, I live with him and he's fairly open usually about his numerous girlfriends."

"Shut up, Becker! Just because I've had more than one girlfriend while we've been living together does not mean I've had numerous girlfriends. In fact, in three years I've had... six and that includes Jess." Scott stepped forward, but then swayed back as he remembered the creature.

"Yes. It's just a pity some overlapped" cried Becker. Jess gasped and Scott closed his eyes as he tried to stop himself snapping. When he opened them and spoke, he went slowly and carefully.

"It's not like that. Jess, please, I was on a break from a relationship, just to give each other space, when I met someone else. How would you approach the subject? And while I was figuring it out, they found out. I didn't go out looking to cause harm, I really didn't. It just... happened."

Jess found herself immediately relating to Scott, which was awkward as it was clear he was in the wrong this time. However, Jess knew from experience how hard it was just to say something. Even so it felt bad to side with him.

Scott meanwhile had turned on Becker. "You see, this is why I didn't tell you. You've always been cautious around any girls I've taken home since and as soon as you knew this was someone you knew and would have to help if I hurt her, you'd have been insufferable!"

"You run into things with girls!" argued Becker.

"What, so I'm supposed to stand back and make a strategy like I'm in a war? That's not how relationships work!"

"I just don't want you to do the same with my... colleague responded Becker. The words made Jess' heart break; she was just Becker's colleague, not even a friend. Something inside her snapped and she just wanted to end this and escape.

"ENOUGH!" she shouted. "This isn't the time or the place, so shut up, both of you. Becker, take that dinosaur to the anomaly before it closes. Scott, take me home. NOW!"

She picked up her bag from where it lay on the ground and didn't even stop to dust it off as she strode out as fast as she could without running and headed straight for Scott's car. She vaguely acknowledged the crowd that had gathered on the lawn outside the pub.

She sat on the car's bonnet in the gently cooling air in the fading light, brushing down her dress, bag and shaking out her hair which she had washed earlier. A man, whom Jess recognised as the waiter approached her slowly.

"Erm... ma'am?" Jess looked up. "Technically, it's £23.40." Jess folded her arms and narrowed her eyes with an icy stare Abby would have been proud of. The man melted. "Let's... let's just say it was on the house. " Jess relaxed her gaze slightly. "Please come again." The waiter, backed off quickly, almost colliding with Scott, who was coming up. Scott dodged the man and pulled out his keys.

"Come on. Let's go home," he sighed.

* * *

The weekend for Jess was relatively quiet. She rejected all phone calls, which annoyed Connor as he tried the lazy option when asked to tell her her dinner was ready.

She did, however, receive texts. In two days, Scott sent a total of 63 messages, explaining how sorry he was, how he'd made a mistake two years ago and it shouldn't colour things now, how much he wanted her to _just pick up the phone._

Becker sent one text, apologising for interrupting her date. It was the one Jess spent most time looking at, purely because she felt guilt for not replying and yet couldn't work out what to say; this was probably why she understood Scott so well. She'd deceived Becker, or rather she'd concealed information from him, and he knew it.

Luckily, he thought this was more to do with Scott than her, so there wouldn't be so much anger directed at her, but, equally, she wanted there to be some. After all, it would force some kind of reaction from Becker, even if it was flat out rejection.

Sunday night came round and Jess knew some texts had to be sent. The break, if it could be called that, was over. After dinner, Abby peered round the door to find Jess reading Scott's most recent offering. The blond perched herself on the edge of the bed and waited for Jess to acknowledge her; she knew Becker had discovered Scott and Jess, but Jess hadn't said much else. Abby was just relieved that in the end, her threat hadn't dictated the shift.

"Scott had cheated on a previous girlfriend," said Jess suddenly. Abby started at this comment; she hadn't realised Scott had been shown up in such a way. "He'd taken a break in a relationship and didn't know how to drop her when he found someone new." Jess buried her head in her pillow.

"Does this mean you're going back to Becker then?" asked Abby, moving up. Finally, some normally could be restored" Jess dug herself out so her face pointed sideways.

"No. You were right. It's too late. He knows there's a lasting relationship between his flatmate and me. I'm officially taken." Jess sighed heavily. "Especially as I think I'll forgive Scott."

"What?!" spluttered Abby. "You said the guy has cheated on someone else. You think it's complicated now, can you imagine what you'll feel like if he does that to you?"

"He was on a break and didn't know what to say! Do you know how many times I've been there?"

"When do you not know what to say?" said Abby. Jess smiled faintly.

"I've been there. Why do you think I talk so much rubbish?" Abby leant back. She had to admit, Jess' seemingly endless comments did stop important subjects like 'Connor's broken the sofa' arising; normally, Abby was the one celebrating this. "Besides, Becker called me his 'colleague'." Ah, now this also made sense. Abby felt like she had a grasp on this relationship, finally. "Plus Becker's not had a girlfriend in years." Nope, she'd lost it again.

"Why's that a problem?" inquired Abby, frowning.

"Well, it's got to mean something! There has to be some reason he's not got one!" argued Jess. Abby rolled her eyes.

"Yeah. Like his eerie quietness. Or the fact he's married to his job. Or his love of guns. Or the fact that last time we took him to a club, he stood in the corner with ear plugs in playing on his phone!"

"And there are more reasons why I shouldn't fantasise after him."

Abby flopped back on the bed and groaned into her hands. How could this woman come up with so many logical arguments that had no place in the real world" Advising her was like potty training Rex; necessary in the long run, but so exasperating as you notice the original faults – she recalled her feelings on the discovery that Rex had been using a visitor's lab coat which was hung up as a poop perch. She also remembered the look on Lester's face as he helped make the discovery.

Jess, meanwhile, was sending a text to Scott.

_You owe me dessert. Xx_

* * *

The next day, Jess found she could lose herself in her work. This didn't cause her any problems as she worked her way through last Friday's paperwork. That was, until she realised she didn't have Becker's report. Her desire to avoid him eventually led to her using the internal email; the fact she normally liked to walk to demand such work was overridden as she told herself to cut out the cake at tomorrow's lunch.

Ten minutes later, Stevens, a junior and fairly naive soldier of Becker's security, strode over to the ADD and dropped a pile of papers on the desk. Jess looked up, startled.

"Security reports." Jess nodded her thanks, then tried to return to work. "Why have I been lumbered with the task when normally Becker uses every excuse to come up here?" Jess paused, but didn't reply. "Don't tell me he made the first move?"

"Goodbye, Stevens," said Jess pointedly.

"He did? Did you say yes? 'Cos..."

"Goodbye, Stevens," said Lester pointedly, coming up to the ADD. "I'm sure Becker needs you for... something." The soldier beat a hasty retreat; he and Lester had a very simple deal – avoid each other at all costs. "Jess, I need you to give this to Becker." Jess blinked slowly and turned around to view the three pieces of paper.

"Firstly, when did that become my job? Secondly, why didn't you give it to Stevens?" She folded her arms and stared at the civil servant, who bore no reaction to this.

"I'm giving it to you because I'm getting a little bored of the view of the back of your head; you haven't moved all day. I didn't give it to Stevens as I actually want it to reach the Captain this week."

Jess sighed and snatched the papers in a huff. Lester didn't turn around until he was sure the woman had stalked off far enough. Slowly, he revolved and checked to see Jess was back already after throwing the papers at someone else. When he didn't see her, he looked up slightly and gave a small nod to Abby, who was looking down from his office. Talk about playing the office Cupid.

* * *

Jess found Becker in the drill hall. Stevens was whispering in the corner to a group of mates upon Jess' entrance and Becker turned to see her, perplexed by her appearance. He knew the email was a ploy for her to avoid him and he'd gladly taken advantage of the opportunity.

"Papers from Lester." She thrust the sheets in his direction. He took them gingerly, unsure what the protocol was here. This accomplished, Jess turned quickly to leave, aware many of the soldiers had picked up on the different way their Captain and co-ordinator were reacting; they were used to subtle flirting.

Unfortunately, for all partied concerned, Stevens had about the same amount of tact as Connor as so it was with a loud voice that he asked, "Where are you taking her, sir?"

Everyone froze. Becker stared at Stevens.

"What?"

"You obviously asked her out or something? Come on, it's been ten months; you have to take her somewhere special."

"What?" said Jess. Several veteran, bulky soldiers shrank back. Stevens remained oblivious.

"You two love birds..." he grinned like he knew what he was talking about. Jess went pale and Becker went red.

"Stevens. I do not love Miss Parker," Becker stated, slowly and forcefully. Jess' mind went into turmoil. Stevens finally realised his mistake, but it was too late. "And it's none of your business anyway. Just... GET OUT OF MY SIGHT! AND EVERYONE ELSE, GET ON WITH YOUR TASKS!" The security scuttled and slipped away and Stevens scarpered.

Jess turned to face Becker briefly, but his face was a storm and there was no reading anything else into it; certainly she couldn't see if he was serious about his statement. He looked to her, but she turned away, taking a leaf out of Stevens' book and leaving with as much dignity as she could.

* * *

**Please review. =-)**


	5. Chapter 5: The Diplomatic Gift

**Hello. Well after the cringe of the last chapter, this is far more... lovey. Hope that's OK. Thank-you to everyone who reviewed my last chapter – it had one of the most responses I've had to chapter. It seems Becker needs to act. Maybe this chapter will help him... or not =-) Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval. It seems my Birthday wish was ignored.**

* * *

"Does he like me?" Jess asked Abby sincerely a couple of evenings later. The blond looked around at her as she passed over the next plate to be dried and breathed in.

"Who? Becker or Scott? Whichever it is the answer's yes. And you kind of have to accept that," she replied, as she met Jess' troubled, yet distant gaze.

The past few days Jess had been restless and even after she met up with Scott again, it was difficult for her to settle into the rhythm she'd had before. Abby, who had heard what had happened in the drill room, couldn't work out whether she was annoyed at Becker for not confirming his affection of the co-ordinator or pleased that he had tried to keep out of her way; either way, it was going to cause Jess confusion. At least Abby knew she was angry at Stephens; she'd heard he'd been cornered and given a few 'helpful' words from some of the veterans.

"Becker," sighed Jess. "But he denied it..." Abby opened her mouth to interrupted, but Jess beat her to it. "Then again, he was in front of his men and he's very private..." Abby tried again and failed. "He didn't need to deny it though. Surely if he did like me he would have just not answered." Abby waited until she was sure Jess had finished and then cleared her throat. Fail. "But then they all thought it was clear and that he'd been flirting with me for months. _I_ thought he'd been flirting with me occasionally."

"_Everyone _knows he's been flirting with you for months," argued Abby forcefully, giving up on waiting for a gap in Jess' musings. "He is practically infatuated with you. That's why he's so affected by the idea of you and Scott."

Jess breathed in and pondered this notion for a full minute. Abby got on with the washing up as she tried not to look as she was waiting to impatiently for Jess's response. Screw that, she was angry at Becker. And Scott. And Jess. And the waiter who'd served the meal at the pub. And anyone else involved in making the dates so perfect for Scott and Jess.

"I guess you're right," sighed Jess. She went back to drying up. "Erm... Abby..." Abby paused in what she was doing, trying to gather patience.

"What?" she groaned.

"Why's this white plate now blue?" Abby whipped around and stared at the previously pristine white plate. It was now a deep rich sapphire colour. Everything else on the draining board also had a blue tinge to it. She grabbed the washing-up liquid bottle and ripped the lid off. Inside was not the usual green solution.

"CONNOR!"

* * *

Jess popped down to the security area as soon as she got in the next morning. The ARC was still only sparsely populated, but Jess knew Becker would be there, bright and early. She had come down to thank him for saving her life, something she had remembered she hadn't done yet. It was a lame excuse, but she knew they had to clear the air.

She tapped on his office door where he was filling out a few forms that Jess recognised as budgeting papers. He didn't look up and he waved a hand for the person to enter. Jess paused then slipped into the office and shut the door behind her. The last thing she wanted was to be seen here and provide fuel to the soldiers' gossip again.

She felt like she was entering the headmaster's office and accordingly tried to make herself as quiet as possible, which was an achievement in heels. She remained standing, not wanting to give the appearance of a long conversation.

Becker jotted down another coupe of numbers and looked up. He was visibly startled to see Jess standing in front of him, but quickly displayed his natural persona. After all, she was probably only here to discuss ARC business, though he was certain he had paid extra attention to detail so she wouldn't need to come down like she _always_ did.

"Hello. Erm... I had forgotten to say thank you for saving me last Friday," she stuttered awkwardly. Becker listened for about five seconds after she had finished her sentence and then struggled to find a response.

"That's my job. Besides, a trip through that dinosaur would have ruined your heels, which I'm guessing you were wearing." Jess smiled at the attempt at humour, which worked wonders at clearing the air. Becker relaxed as he saw Jess do the same.

"The whole point of my position is that I'm the one not in trouble. I'm just the one shouting in other people's ears. Annoyingly."

"You're not annoying," interrupted Becker hurriedly. A little too hurriedly for Jess' composure. Her breath quickened and her heart beat that bit faster, a sensation she had missed Becker giving her for a while. It was almost like old times... or at least, last month.

She pulled open her bag on her lap and delved into it to find the object she'd managed to buy in the service station on her way in. Her hand clasped around the object and pulled it out, along with her comb which it had become entangled in. She placed it carefully on the desk.

Becker stared at the small nodding dog for a few seconds in silence, grateful that he was known for his straight expression. He checked up at Jess' hopeful face.

"A Thank you present. After all, you gave me flowers." Becker winced slightly. "What's wrong? Don't you like it? I didn't have a lot of time I'll admit, but I thought you drive around a lot..." She trailed away, lost for a second as she realised she'd just given the Captain of the security forces a novelty dog. Becker, though, shook his head.

"No. It's wonderful, Jess. It's just my flatmate informed that you were perfect for him because, and I quote, 'she doesn't even go in for flowers'. I'm sorry."

Jess' heart fell. She'd admitted to Scott that she disliked flowers to reassure of his choice on the first night, but she'd never mentioned that Becker had given her any – let's face it, she was trying not to even think of the Captain that evening. And now, her over-active mouth had landed her in another awkward position. Becker shuffled in his chair and reached over to the dog, which by now she was sure he wouldn't like, and moved its head to one side.

"I should have just got you chocolate," said Becker, quietly.

"So should have I," answered Jess. Becker looked up at her and berated himself for bringing up the subject of the flowers; it had obviously embarrassed Jess and he'd felt he'd done enough of that the past few days.

"No. I do spend a significant proportion of time driving and it'll brighten my car up." There was a pause. "You don't mind if I don't put it in the ARC's SUV, though, right?"

"It's an embarrassment," asserted Jess.

"No," denied Becker, who was trying to work out a reason for the dog not to be in front of his men as they headed off on a mission. In the end, though, he plumped for honesty, realising they'd both know it was only an excuse. "Yes," he admitted. There was another pause as Jess stared at him. "Slightly."

Jess suddenly started giggling. Becker frowned, unsure if this was something he'd caused. This made Jess giggled more, but she managed an explanation.

"We're... having a diplo... diplomatic discussion... over a... over a nodding dog!" Becker's relaxed his face and picked up the novelty dog as he pondered the situation. It did have its funny side. He felt a small smile creep onto his face, although he knew part of this was just due to the sound of Jess' laugh.

Jess regained enough composure to stand, adamant that she should leave on a high, with both in a good mood. Becker watched her tuck an escaped piece of hair behind her ear, before she nodded her goodbye and exited the room. He placed the dog by his keyboard and stared at it.

He was still staring at it when his Sergeant came in with the night reports fifteen minutes later.

* * *

There was an anomaly that morning, though no creatures came through. It led to a late lunch for all operations personal, which included Jess, who had the staff area to herself, although Lester did pop in to check how she felt that call-out had gone.

She was able to settle down and read a magazine for half an hour, an activity she had not been able to concentrate on for the last couple of months, because it always allowed her mind to wander. It was only part way through that this thought occurred and it made her realise that actually peace and honesty with Becker meant more to her than she'd ever wanted to acknowledge.

Part way through the afternoon, Becker appeared at her side, reports in hand. He hung around for a couple of minutes, exchanging idle chatter and jokes before he scuttled off back. This was normal.

An hour later, she came down to the drill hall again. There was a hush as she entered and out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Stephens disappear through a door. She however was only there to find a page of Becker's reports which had somehow been left on his desk. This was normal.

Abby watched closely and with interest at this rebooted friendship. She knew that Jess had gone in early that morning in order to talk to Becker – she'd rejected the lift that morning. Obviously this had gone someway in clearing the air between the two, which Abby was incredibly relieved about; after all, she'd been stuck listening to all of Jess' problems and it felt good to know that one of them was surely sorted and yet...

Abby hoped they didn't forget why there had been a problem. They couldn't continue flirting like they had been. Jess was with Scott and this time both of them knew it. They surely couldn't be naive and expect that to be a reasonable outcome. They surely couldn't. Except, from what Abby had seen, they were both, in their own way, naive enough.

* * *

Becker left his work in a better mood than he'd felt for in days. He was refreshed from the lifting of the pressure of the tension between him and Jess. He'd been berating himself for the last few days about the manner with which he lost control on Monday and his attitude the previous Friday, although he didn't understand how else he was supposed to act. Like he didn't care? He _did_ care. Too much. That was the problem.

He pulled up at his house thirty minutes later, having fought through the rush-hour traffic. He noted Scott's car hadn't appeared yet, but this wasn't usual – they always arrived about the same time. Becker leaned over in his seat and pulled out the dog which he had hidden in his bag. He rolled it over a few times and checked the back shelf of his car.

Surely it wouldn't do any harm. But he'd become one of those annoying people with a novelty dog in the back window. But if he slipped it by the back pillar it would be fairly hidden.

He got out and went around into the back seats. Kneeling upon one, he shoved the dog into a position where he hoped it was inconspicuous. He shuffled out, closed the door and went around to the back to judge the effect. He studied it for a few seconds when a car pulled up directly behind him. Turning, he hopped back onto the pavement and saw it was Scott.

Things had been awkward that weekend, but when Jess had agreed to see him again, a sign that Becker had not 'destroyed every last glimmer of sunshine in the world' as he had feared, there was a sense of relief that the past had been put out there. Gradually, they started to make conversation while in the same room and both felt as if they were over the brow of this hill; they were, at the end of the day, friends.

Scott got out, frowning, wondering why Becker seemed to be analysing his back windscreen. He spotted the dog within a few seconds.

"Erm... I didn't know you were a canine gimmick lover." Becker sighed, realising it was not hidden enough. He delved straight back into the car and grabbed the offending object off the shelf, thrusting himself backwards and heaving himself out back out. He fumbled for his keys and in his haste, he let go of the little dog.

It rolled across the pavement and Scott picked it up, smirking. He walked deliberately around Becker, who sighed and locked his car, before racing off after his flatmate. Scott had reached their house and had let himself inside, inspecting the dog with a bemused expression on his face. Becker darted out a hand, but Scott held the object away from him.

"Calm down! I won't break it. I'm just wondering why you seem so attached to it. I mean, enough to put it in your car on show." Scott grinned at Becker as the Captain stared at him, an irritated expression clouding his face. "From anyone special?" Becker breathed in, trying desperately not to react to this statement, but he didn't count on the fact his lack of response held the key. "It is?!" Scott's gaped.

He moved into the kitchen, but checked to see if Becker had followed him. He desperately wanted to know if Becker had finally found a girl. In the back of his mind he had the idea that this might distract Becker from interfering too much in his own affairs. It had already allowed some well-natured jokes back into the flat. He popped his bag down and turned the dog over a couple more times.

"Soooo... I'm thinking a girl. At work." Becker just stared at him, impatient for the embarrassment to end. "I'll take that as a yes. Someone with a fun personality. Was it that Abby Jess has mentioned a few times?" Becker baulked.

"What?! No! She has a live-in boyfriend and a lizard. Remember that creature that snuck into my bag once. That's more trouble than it's worth." Scott smiled at the attitude of Becker – he genuinely didn't seem to realise that relationships didn't work in terms of convenience. He had a closer look at the dog and narrowed his eyes as he spotted something.

"What's this? A hair. In fact, a few of them." He lifted the offending strands like he was a detective. Becker himself froze, visions of Jess untangling the gift from her comb flashing before his eyes. His heart beat a little faster, as he tried to reason that this wasn't enough to tie the dog to Jess.

Scott raised the hair into the light and made a great show of checking it over. Becker shifted uneasily and his flatmate took this as evidence of the Captain's humiliation over the crack in his facade.

"It's a reddy brown I believe. Quite like..." Scott trailed off as the jigsaw pieces fell into place. Becker held his breath as waited to see if Scott would dismiss this. He waited for what seemed like an age as Scott slowly turned to face him, a grimmer expression on his face. It was then Becker made what he would look back on as his mistake. He broke the silence for the first time since entering the house.

"Scott, can I have it back It's just a..."

"It's from Jess, isn't it?" interrupted Scott. He didn't pause. "Don't lie. It's her hair and her misguided style. Let's face it, someone's given you a joke of a present and yet you were still considering keeping it in your car." Scott scoffed. "You love her, don't you?"

"I don't love her!" responded Becker, quickly. A little too quickly and he knew it as soon as the words left his mouth.

"You've had to say that before. You've had to say that before because _everyone_ knows you flirt with her and they see you change every time you enter the room. _Everyone knows._ Everyone except me." Scott stared into the distance as his words hit home to him. Becker persevered.

"It was just a Thank-you present. For saving her. Both of you, in fact. You know what Jess is like." The explanation was feeble, even in his ears. Any 'gift' like this one normally and it would have been hidden away; certainly, the last thing Becker would be doing is putting it in his back window of his car.

Scott knew ignored and threw the dog at the Captain, who ducked out of the kitchen and headed up the stairs. There was no talking to his flatmate at this moment and besides, what could he say? What should he say?

* * *

Jess had just unlocked her front door when she received a text. Abby pushed passed her as she read it.

_Becker loves you. S_

* * *

**Please review. Last week was my Birthday... and yes, I'm trying to emotionally blackmail you. =-)**


	6. Chapter 6: The Unthinking Plan

**Hello. Thanks for all the reviews I received for the last chapter. Again, a huge response (for me). This time I decided to be a bit harsher on the characters, especially Jess, so don't expect anyone to be a role model in this chapter. On the plus side, things start to heat up a little. **

**House-keeping wise, expect this story to be finished in the next week (yes, I've got a lot of typing to do). There are a couple/few more chapters left, but essentially if I don't finish it in the next week, you may not see the ending for a month, maybe more, as my life suddenly turns hectic. Hope this suits you guys.**

**In the meantime, Enjoy!**

**Oh and this is dedicated to Primevalyank. As a present ;-)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval. I dunno about you lot. =-)**

* * *

Abby got to the kitchen before she heard Jess' tear-filled sigh. Her instant reaction was 'oh no, not again', which she quickly brushed under the rug in her mind with a mini pang of guilt. She put her bag and the shopping they'd picked up down on the counter and went back to the door.

Jess looked up at her with damp eyes and passed the phone over to her friend. Abby scanned the short text and groaned before glancing to Connor, who was standing staring at Jess like she was an alien. Abby took a deep breath in and put an arm around Jess.

"Connor, go and cook us some dinner." Connor opened his mouth, but Abby just snapped back: "Oh, for goodness' sake, just microwave something." Connor nodded and scampered off to the kitchen, realising that this was not a problem he'd be any good at solving as it didn't involve computers or T-rexs.

Abby gently guided Jess into the closest room, which happened to be her and Connor's bedroom. She sat Jess down on the bed. Jess squeaked and leapt up. Abby picked up the jumper strewn across the duvet and found a little action figure. She threw it across the room towards Connor's closet of... he'd say keep-sakes, Abby would say junk.

The blond turned back to Jess, who wasn't, thankfully, crying, but looked so sad Abby could barely stand being in the same room. The other woman just held too much emotion on her sleeve. Abby strode over to the dressing table that was buried under clutter and, after causing a small avalanche, dug out a tissue box to offer the field co-ordinator.

"How could he think that?" Jess sniffed. Abby sat down by her.

"Because it's true," stated Abby. Jess looked up at her sharply. "It is. That's been the problem, the _main_ problem, for the past two months. You're in a love triangle and Scott's just twigged." Jess sighed. "Be thankful he doesn't know you reciprocate in any way." Jess froze. "You think he does? How?" cried Abby, standing up again. This was a mess.

"I gave Becker a present this morning." Abby groaned, but Jess cut her off angrily. "It was just a thank-you gift. Just for saving our lives. Anyway, Scott must have realised that I was the one who'd given it to Becker and... it was such a bad gift. A nodding dog! Becker must have actually treated it with grace."

Abby stifled back a giggle at this comment. Jess had given Becker a nodding dog. That was certainly one of the most... interesting gifts Becker's ever had to deal with. She bit back her humour sharply; Jess would hardly appreciate being laughed at right now.

"Ok, let's rationalise. You don't that's what caused it. Or, at least, that's the knowledge you have to display if you want him to think it was just a meaningless present from your behalf."

"But that would be lying," replied Jess, quietly. Abby felt like she could scream; _now_ Jess decided to acknowledge that she liked Becker more than she should.

"You already have," the blond almost shouted back. Jess jolted in surprise at the sudden anger targeted at her, but Abby was determined to set things out to her friend. "You weren't going to tell Scott the truth about why you didn't want Becker to know about the relationship. The fact that he beat you to the request doesn't change the fact you took him along for the ride."

"You make it sound like I played him!" argued Jess, recovering. "It was just a test..."

"You can't experiment on people like that. I've told Connor that enough times. It's simply not fair on anyone, but you." Jess tried to mount a counter-attack, but Abby waved her away. "No, don't argue. You haven't had to face any of real storms yet. I mean, Becker thought you were just following Scott; he doesn't have a clue that you would have concealed it all whatever. Neither of them properly understands where you stand, so maybe stop playing the part of the injured lover."

Jess recovered swiftly and was up on her feet in an instant. Abby mentally gulped; she normally avoided being involved in cat-fights, considering them to be a waste of effort, but in her head, she knew this was for Jess' own good. She braced herself for the attack.

"One. I didn't know Scott was covering up anything. Two. I am faced with a decision which is only due to three. Becker never did anything. Nothing. In fact, he steered clear of the topic, when all he needed to do was turn around and _say something. Anything." _ Jess' eyes were clearer now.

"Becker gave you chocolate. He talked to you every day. You know as well as everyone else in the ARC that he created situations to come to the ADD and..." Abby trailed off as she realised Jess wasn't actually listening to her, but staring into the middle distance, mumbling.

"All he had to do was say something," she murmured. "And I'd have come running." Abby breathed out, relieved that it wasn't a full scale argument. She moved closer to her friend.

"You need to say something." Jess shook her head and sat back down on the bed, tucking a fallen piece of hair back behind her ear. She looked up at Abby.

"I can't," she said feebly. "I have to make a decision." Abby scoffed. "Scott is my ideal man, there's no denying that. I'm not throwing that away because, frankly, I could spend the rest of my life with him. Happily. And while I could be happy with Becker, he still hasn't shown any signs of anything more than friendship. Scott sent the text. Not him. I mean, how can I compare them? They're so different."

Abby was silent for a minute. She was not a counsellor and she knew it, but equally she was the only person who knew all the facts and accepted them; that meant she had some authority. She just wished she knew what to do.

She hung on the last sentence Jess had said, being the only source of inspiration at the minute – she couldn't exactly stop and check the internet for suggestions. How do you compare them? The difficulty lay in not only the differences, but also the fact they were reacting to different situations. All that was needed was a common scenario, throw both in and see which fitted Jess' needs and wants then.

"A challenge," Abby whispered. Jess looked at her, confused.

"What?"

Abby grabbed her friend and pulled her to her feet. Jess stumbled, still wearing her work heels, but, a true pro, she regained composure immediately and watched, a small frown creasing her forehead as Abby burst into action. The blond rushed into the hallway and pulled on her coat, tugging Jess along.

"A challenge. You need to see them both in the same setting. Then, it should be obvious." Jess tried to speak, but Abby threw her jacket on. "This can't wait or Becker and Scott will have killed each other by morning and you'll be too tired. We're going to their flat now."

"ABBY!" came a disembodied cry from the kitchen.

"And," she added, "we'll pick up a new microwave on the way."

* * *

They drew up to the flat the two men shared twenty minutes later, the traffic having died down a little and Abby breakneck speed and driving style which allowed Jess a potentially lethal distraction from her troubles.

Abby's mind was racing, mainly, she thought, because if it stopped she'd realise what a ridiculous idea this was and all of the problems in it. This wasn't the time to dwell on the fact she was somehow going to convince three people that it was her business to organise their relationships and that she had a good idea.

As soon as she pulled up, she unclasped her seatbelt and leapt out of the car, slamming the door behind her. She still had to wait though as Jess progressed in an especially slow way. Abby tried to tell herself that this was natural considering they actually knew nothing of what had gone on in the house, except for the fact it revolved around Jess, but she was impatient to get on.

She took the time to scan the house. A couple of windows were open, but she couldn't hear any shouting or smashing, which she took to be a good sign, although she was now a little apprehensive about disturbing the peace. It seemed so fitting that Becker's house should be the place of so much silent emotional turmoil.

Jess eventually caught up and Abby locked the car, grabbed her friend by the arm and marched her up the path. Jess resisted slightly, but was so full of nervous energy she couldn't concentrate enough to put up a fight against the determined blond. Abby knocked loudly on the door and Jess winced.

There was silence for a few seconds, then the thumping of someone coming down the stairs. Another pause followed and then the door swung open to reveal Becker, whose eyes widened in surprise.

"Jess! Abby! What are you doing here?" he exclaimed. Abby heard a thump from elsewhere in the house and knew Scott had overheard this. Not wanting to cause a scene in the street, Abby pushed past the shocked Captain, dragging Jess along with her.

She took a quick opportunity to look around the hallway she'd been in a couple of times before. It hadn't changed much and there was no sign of broken vases or other tell-tale scratches indicating violence. She went through to the living room and Jess followed awkwardly. Becker gazed after them for a second, but then shut the front door and he and Scott entered the room together.

"You texted Jess about half an hour ago," stated Abby. Scott blinked, a little stunned that his message had been read by anyone else, but Jess, who was desperately trying to blend in with the furniture. "Explain it."

"It doesn't need any explanation," answered Scott, firmly. "Becker loves Jess and what's more I think there's some feeling back."

"Scott!" cried Jess at the accusation. She knew the second part of the statement was true, Abby had forced her to face that, but it felt so... ugly out in the open.

"Do you deny that you gave it to him?"

"No..." she started. She snapped herself together. "It was a Thank-you gift. He'd saved my life. Our lives."

"You gave him a dog. No, wait." Scott waved away Abby as she tried to interrupt. "This has little to do with you. Jess, there is a cupboard upstairs with a shelf full of gifts Becker has been presented with which he doesn't like. Nearly all are of a similar kind to that dog. None of them have been placed in the back window of his car, not for a second. He loves you..."

"She's a friend. I thought I'd put it there for a few days so she wouldn't be... offended," argued Becker. He was lying through his teeth, he knew, but he couldn't face the truth. He couldn't face the fact he'd let down his defence for Jess. It wasn't proper. It was a useless lie though; Scott scoffed.

"You'd never dare. You'd make up some excuse. Anything, but face the mocking over it." Scott moved towards Becker, but Abby moved quickly in between the pair. Jess' eyes filled with tears, but she made no sound as Scott continued. "Especially as they'd realise it was from Jess as everyone knows. You know, don't you?" Scott addressed Abby, who kept her face as neutral as she could. "You know that Becker fancies Jess because everyone whispers it in the staff room." He faced Becker again. "Well, guess what? You lost out because you couldn't stand the idea of being a tiny bit forward, of asking her."

"I don't love her," replied Becker, a coolly as he could.

"Liar..."muttered Scott. Becker ignored him.

"I care about her though. I'm meant to protect her."

"What? And I'm someone to protect her from. Of course I am. Otherwise you wouldn't have hurt her by revealing that mistake."

"You're not good enough for her," cried Becker. Scott made a lunge, but Abby knocked out his legs and went down heavily on the floor. Jess screamed in shock, causing everyone to reel back and calm a little. Abby knew this could go on; this was the time for her plan.

"Let's face it. You both like Jess." Becker opened his mouth, but Abby cut across him. "_Like_ I said. Jess realised as soon as you sent the text that she'd have to choose between you two." Neither man contested this. "But she can't. Not right now. She needs a comparable situation in order to judge that and she hasn't had one. So... I propose a contest."

"A contest?" exclaimed Jess, alarmed. This seemed all too serious and it looked scarily like the moment of a decision was bearing down on her. Becker folded his arms, but didn't react in any other way. Scott frowned.

"Yes, a contest. You need to know which man actually suits you, so you need to know how they differ."

"What sort of contest?" asked Scott nervously. He might be a PE teacher, but he knew Becker was trained for combat and the prospect of a fight was not promising.

"You each take her on a date." Becker again opened her mouth. "_I'm_ calling it a date, whatever you choose to call it. One evening each, sometime within the next week. Then, a week today, Jess chooses. Agreed?"

Jess admitted that her heart leapt at the idea of having an actual proper date with Becker, but it fell again as she acknowledged the daunting task of picking between the two men. She felt a little weak. She glanced around, looking for an escape route and her eyes came to rest upon a football, lying in the corner of the room.

It was battered, obviously through use. It suddenly hit home what she was doing. She was driving a wedge between two friends, all because she couldn't choose. She breathed in. Abby was placing a limit on the chaos. She'd rise to the challenge.

"Agreed. If they do. I mean, it's their choice, since they'd be the ones... I'm not free evening after tomorrow. I promised Connor I'd accompany him to the supermarket, 'cos last time I get the wrong cereal, but he doesn't like the freezer section 'cos it's cold and we're out of chips." She looked at Scott. "Connor's just a friend. I mean, he's Abby's boyfriend, so another flatmate and..."

Jess halted and cursed herself for her ramble. Little did she know that both men saw this as one of the things that was worth competing for.

"Agreed," they said simultaneously.

"Really!" exclaimed Abby, a little shocked that her plan was accepted, but happy that in a week, this surely had to be over and she would no longer have to listen to Jess' romantic problems.

There was an awkward silence and Abby smiled. She nodded towards the door and Jess gratefully accepted the invitation to leave. Abby gave a little wave to Becker, who shot her a miniature smile. He remained in the room, while Scott saw them out, before retiring to his room.

* * *

Abby strapped herself in and breathed out deeply. Jess sat by her processing what had just happened.

"Thank you," the field co-ordinator said eventually.

"You don't know if it'll work yet."

"It's a plan. A proper plan with a time structure. I haven't had one of those throughout any of this. I've just been winging it and I've not been brilliant at that." Abby reserved her opinion upon that matter, not wishing to hurt her friend by agreeing but not wanting to life. She plastered a fake grin over her face.

"Come on. Let's find out where we can get a microwave at 8.00 in the evening."

* * *

**Please review.**

**Had an amazing response so far, so Thank you.**


	7. Chapter 7: An Unherioc Pose

**Hello. Thanks to all those reviewing and commenting. Fantastic to receive them all. **

**So, this I think is the last but one chapter and I really want to get this up so hope you don't mind but it's a short AN. It's this or you wait another day. ;-) In fact, without further ado, here's the chapter! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval. But I know own a penguin pencil. Happy days.**

* * *

Becker was the first to make a move. He texted two hours later and Jess came rushing into the living room, where Connor and Abby were curled up in a kiss, which they hastily broke. Jess paused, flustered.

"Oh sorry. I didn't realise..." Connor rolled his head back prepared himself for ramble. Abby was less patient.

"What do you want, Jess?" Jess blinked once at the question, assessing if she should leave them and return later, but she decided that she'd already interrupted them, so she might as well continue.

"Becker texted. I guess he had the easier job as Scott's probably used up his ideas. Do you think I should take that into account? I should do really, but then again, if he's out of ideas after two months, imagine what he'd be like after two years. That..."

"JESS!" cried Abby.

"Oh yes. Becker is picking me up tomorrow evening. It's so soon. He says he's just doing it, because he doesn't want me to make the mistake of continuing with Scott." Jess paused. "Guess that means he doesn't love me after all." Connor groaned; he could see the whole affair lasting for a lot longer. Abby could also see it lasting much longer, but she was determined that it shouldn't last longer right now.

"Jess. He loves you. Accept it. He's just... shy about it. I mean, if you were the Captain of a security force made of ex-soldiers, so would you, but he's even shier about it. That's all. Now, start reading too much into everything he does and you'll be happy." Abby turned back to Connor, paused and added as an aside: "Oh, and enjoy your _date_ tomorrow. Now go away."

The blond turned back to Connor, who didn't really resist in picking up where they left off much. Jess pondered the words for a few seconds, then realised the right here, right now probably wasn't the correct place to do so. She slipped back into her room and texted a positive message back to Becker.

She then sat on her bed and wondered why life couldn't be a text that you could edit and check before sending. Then she realised that that was what Becker effectively did before he said anything, only everyone called it 'thinking words through before you say them'.

She then thought about the implications if Abby was right and that what Becker did was edit his words so much that the truthful emotions never got out.

* * *

Becker arrived outside at seven on the dot, dressed in a smart-casual dark T-shirt matched with black suit trousers. When Jess peeked out her window to check if it was his car she heard banging, her breath caught slightly in her throat. She hastily pulled back away from the curtains and checked that she wasn't over-dressed.

She'd chosen a lime green cotton dress. Or rather, Abby had chosen the dress when Abby presented her with five options. She'd avoided Becker all day, not sure on the etiquette of meeting someone before a date, which meant her routine changed, which meant she was in a tizz by the end of the day from the stress of avoiding him like the plague.

Lester was not amused.

Becker greeted her with few words and went straight off to his car, leaving Jess to give a small wave to Abby, whose heart was falling as she realised Becker was not about to produce the ideal date, and to follow in her high-heels.

Once she got into the car, Becker just stare at the steering wheel for a few seconds, before taking a deep breath in.

"Ok." There was an awkward silence and Jess fidgeted nervously, suddenly feeling a pang of fear that she was about to ruin a perfectly good friendship. Becker then persevered. "Scott isn't good enough for you. That's why I'm doing this." Jess got the strangest feeling Becker was talking to himself as much as her. "So, this won't change anything between us. Not unless you want... you think... we feel..."

Becker gave up on the statement and started the car. Jess slouched slightly in her seat, trying not to compare this with the natural, easy banter Scott and her had formed. Should this deduct points? Jess shook away the thought. Unlike Scott, Becker was a friend before this and no-one knew what was on the table. That was enough to make anyone uncomfortable.

The silence stretched out across the twenty minute journey. When Becker suddenly spoke again, Jess almost jumped.

"I can only park about a five-ten minute walk from the restaurant." He glanced down at Jess' heels and grimaced as he imagined that this pair must be uncomfortable to walk in. He should have foreseen it. It was very Jess.

"I can manage. I've worn these for a day at work before."

"You just sit down at work," claimed Becker.

"I don't. Let's face it, I have to walk down to the drill room almost every day in order to get you to finish incomplete paperwork."

"You could just e-mail it to me. I do check my mail." Jess blushed as she felt a little angry and hurt Becker didn't appreciate her trips down to him. She fixed her eyes on the road ahead.

"Fine," she answered, trying to conceal all the emotion from her voice. "I won't."

"No, do," Becker responded quickly. Jess turned and frowned at the speed with which he spoke. That didn't have time to be self-edited. Becker realised it. "I mean, it's nice to see you down there. Makes a change and there's a danger I'd only hear you on missions otherwise."

"And that's bad, is it?"

Becker paused as he steered into a small car park and parked. He undid his strap and turned to face Jess full on, looking deep into her eyes. Jess could almost feel his breath on her lips and it made her tingle.

"That would be terrible." Becker sharply opened his door and disappeared, leaving Jess to catch her breath and get out as elegantly as she could.

The walk to the restaurant only took five minutes. Becker had offered his arm to her and so they wandered arm in arm in a more comfortable silence. When they reached the restaurant, Jess eyed it carefully. It was bright, painted with a light blue and the table-cloths matched. It wasn't dingy, but neither was it posh.

One thing Jess noted though as they were seated on a table out in the middle of the room was the lack of romance to it all. It was friendly, yes, but there was no seduction, no passion. There was a group across the room, who were obviously there for someone's birthday, a few girly meals out and a set of four men who seemed to be celebrating one becoming a father. Becker had obviously chosen this place to compact the idea that this was a friendly meal. There were no candles.

And somehow... that felt more comfortable. She opened the menu and scanned down the list. It was good food, solid food, with a reasonable price-tag and a sense to it. She was quickly and easily able to select a lasagne, but then peered over the menu top.

"By the way, who's paying?" Becker peeked over the top of his, frowning at this question.

"Why? You thinking of having the lobster?" he answered sarcastically. Jess tilted her head to one side. "I don't know. We can probably pay for our own." He returned to his menu for a second, then lowered it a bit again. "Actually, this is supposed to be a date. I can pay. Just don't go for the most expensive wine."

"I can pay, thanks," said Jess, shaking her head. She raised her menu. "I don't need a date for food and the most expensive wine is a white one, so you're safe." Becker's frown deepened.

"If you were happy paying, and were going to ignore my offer to pay, then why ask?" Jess put down her menu, her mind made up on the food at least. "And isn't the point of a date for you girls to get free food?"

"No, it's not," snapped Jess. "What kind of girls have you been dating? The point of a date is... romance and conversation. Certainly, a first date should avoid extravagant gestures, as that makes it appear as if you're coming on too fast. Like you want something swiftly."

Becker lowered his menu and propped his elbows on the table ledge in thought. There was a short pause as his eyes seemed to study the ceiling for a minute. Jess waited.

"You're right," he said eventually. "I do date the wrong girls." Jess' curiosity suddenly peeked.

"Spill," she demanded, eagerly, then blushed and sat back as she remembered that she wasn't talking to Abby. "I mean, we may as well use this 'date' to get to know each other." Becker grimaced and Jess worried that she'd opened a can of worms she did not want to know about.

"Five first dates. Four got to a second date. Two lasted more than a month. One lasted four month, the other, five. That was a killer. In that time, I lost, and I did calculate it afterwards, a total of about seven and a half grand." Jess gasped. "I did a simple date the first time and it ended in a row about how I 'obviously wasn't serious about it or I would have invested more into it'. With hindsight, I should've seen she was one of those high-maintenance girls, but I was desperate for a date for a cousin's wedding."

Jess sat gaping as she heard Becker out. He was sensible, not easily swept off in fits of passion, but some woman had managed to play on his naivety and inexperience. Luckily, as she was figuring out how you respond to such revelation, the waiter came up, ready with a notepad.

Becker had got as far as ordering some red wine when his fork suddenly flew across the room and clattered against a table leg. He was up in an instant, alert. Jess stayed seated in shock as the waiter apologised, confused.

The anomaly appeared the other side of the Birthday table. The group froze, stunned for a second, as they gazed at the glowing orb which hung in the air. A small breeze could be felt from it and the shattered glass effect framing moved as if blown by it.

Becker instantly pulled out his phone and was calling the ARC within ten seconds of the appearance. He gave a brief, yet detailed, report to the night-desk security, who assured him they could have a team to the place within ten minutes – part of the reason that Becker knew about the restaurant was its proximity to his workplace.

Jess, meanwhile, grabbed her cardigan in response to the cool air and joined Becker. As soon as the call was made, Becker glanced down to her, then around. Everyone was now on their feet and most were edging towards the kitchen door, the main entrance being blocked by this unknown object. The waiter had gone already.

Becker got up on a chair and cleared his throat. Jess looked up at him, towering over the room, and couldn't help thinking that he did strike an amazing heroic pose. She felt suddenly very safe near him.

"Everyone," called out the Captain to the room. Most people turned towards him, though some were too absorbed in the harmless looking globe. "You need to get out of here. There's a fire exit through the kitchen and..."

"Who put you in charge?" cried out one of the Birthday people. "It's just a stunt, isn't it? Pretty impressive stuff for only a 32nd birthday." He raised his glass. "Kudos to the waiter."

"The waiter's left," answered Jess calmly. "He didn't have a clue what it was. It's not meant to be here." She glanced up to Becker, who reassured her silently. "You do need to leave. Now." She tried as hard as she could to make it sound definite and serious, but she could the other guests weren't convinced of her authority on the matter. Some were slowly leaving though, checking back on the once-in-a-lifetime view they'd been presented with.

Becker was so throw aback by the unexpectedness of the roar which filled the air. He almost fell back off the chair. He caught his balance at the last second, but by then, a large dinosaur had emerged.

He shook his head at the speed with which everyone suddenly decided to leave with now. Even he could see this was a herbivore and a pretty slow one, though its size in such a small space was devastating enough. He grabbed Jess' wrist and tugged her to one side as the dinosaur went lumbering forward, pursuing the fleeing people.

He hugged the small woman to his chest and watched carefully as the dinosaur failed to squeeze through the kitchen door, but succeed in creating a large, cracking dent in the wall.

Jess almost kicked his legs out in her haste to pull the Captain down. Becker frowned at her, but then the long tail swung against the wall they'd been pressed up against a few seconds before. He breathed out as the adrenaline starting to effect. He pushed her under a side table, then followed. Once underneath, he felt safe enough to analyse the situation.

"It can't go through the walls on three sides and large part of the other way is blocked by the anomaly. Ok, Jess listen." Jess stared at him dumbly, a little annoyed he thought she wasn't before. "I'm going to get over to the front of the restaurant, stop it getting through the gaps and out into the street. It'll probably be distracted enough while I'm moving for you to leave."

"Leave?" exclaimed Jess.

"Yes leave. This is no place for you to be."

"You need help to stop it getting through and I can cope enough. It's not dangerous... well, it's not trying to eat me." Becker sighed heavily. _Now_ Jess wanted a debate.

"Look, you don't belong in the field..."

"But I'm in the field. Tough. Let me help."

"You're not suited to situation."

"How am I not?" Becker wracked his brains hurriedly. All that was needed was a loud noise. The creature was panicked and was liable to keep away from anything like that. It was currently shunting the wall in frustration, so it wasn't thinking that straight. But the thought of Jess in danger...

"You're not trained physically."

"It can barely move..."

"You're weak." As soon as Becker said the words, he knew he shouldn't have, but he wanted Jess out of there as fast as possible.

Jess' eyes turned into icicles. She gripped the table leg so hard that if was living it would've bled and her mind became hazy with anger. How dare he? How dare...?

She shifted out from under the table, set on reaching the restaurant door and proving to Becker that she could deal with this dinosaur perfectly. Becker grabbed for her leg, but failed, his grounded position preventing him from moving much. He looked up and watched helplessly as the dinosaur's tail swung around.

Heading straight for Jess.

* * *

"That building there," instructed Lyons, the leader of the night shift. "Ok, now there wasn't an incursion when Becker called..." A loud roar split the air. "...but that's changed." Lyons quickly amended his sentence. "Ok. Sounds large. EMDs on high. Jackson, be prepared to fire that larger one as soon as we get in there. People could be in trouble. Clear?" There was a murmur of 'Sirs' and a few nods. "Right, let's go."

The men ran down the street as fast as they could as a group. They approached the restaurant as head on as they could and could soon see the scale of the problem loaming before them. Jackson charged the EMD and pushed past the others to get through the main doors and positioned himself to aim.

One shot, a bull-eye. Or a stegosaurus' as it turned out. In such a confined space, there was little chance of a miss and the dinosaur bore the full brunt of the shot. It curled and squealed, at immense volume, and its tail flailed upwards, brushing the hair of Jess, who screamed and dived instinctively down towards the side.

There were a few muscle twitches as the dinosaur fell unconscious. Jackson stood up and saluted his Captain, who was crawling out from under a table awkwardly. It wasn't exactly the most dignified stance Jackson had ever seen Becker in, but he reserved judgement.

"You alright, sir? Ma'am?"

He addressed Jess, who was also standing, brushing and adjusting her dress. Her face was thunderous and Jackson, a man who had just brought down a dinosaur, took a step back. She shot a glance at Becker, who wore a rather angry, but relieved expression, though there was no apology in it. She turned to Becker.

"I'm fine. Trust me. The dinosaur was the least of the problems." She stalked past the soldier and the other men parted to let her pass. They watched her leave, already on her phone to Abby wanting a lift home. They turned back to Becker, who stood the alone across the ruined the restaurant, his face and clothes scuffed and dusty from the short hair carpet.

The Captain considered following his date, but decided against it. He gazed around the devastation and at the still shining anomaly. He then stared at the stegosaurus, the cause of his woes. He sighed, then began directing the clean-up operation, thankful Stevens wasn't here right now. Everyone else was clever enough not to ask.

* * *

**Please review.**


	8. Chapter 8: Something More

**Hello. So, this is the final chapter. My first romantic story. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favourite and followed this story. Further thanks are at the bottom.**

**On a more boring note, you may not see me writing anything more than an odd short story or adding to Anomalies (plug!) for a while as life is about to go crazy for me and I'm not starting a story I can't hope to up-date regularly. Let's face it, I'm bad enough as it is.**

**However, back to this. Hope you liked the story and enjoy the ending. Certainly been fun writing it. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval. Which some might say is just as well.**

* * *

When Abby picked her up, Jess was still fuming. After convincing the blond woman that the security men had the fairly simple situation under control, she demanded to be taken home and, once she got there, stormed straight into her room, slamming her door behind her. Abby followed her so far, but refused to go near her until she had calmed down.

Connor, who had been sat in the back seat and played witness the whole thing, slumped down on the sofa and sighed. This routine was starting to get old. He looked up at Abby with pleading eyes.

"Please. Just tell her dump Scott and go out with Becker. End of." Abby cocked her head to one side as she fixed him with a stare. Connor, however, was not backing down. "That's what you want. That's what she needs. Please Abby. Fix it."

"You can't just fix a relationship. She has to decide of her own free-will or she won't be happy whoever she's with." Connor groaned. "Look, it's only going to go on for another week tops. Just grin and bear it."

"No. 'Cos it won't. She'll choose Scott and then she'll avoid the security rooms for a while and I'll be sent on errands and..." Abby smirked. "Hey hey. You think this is just about those three. I'm suffering too, I tell you." Abby bit back a snigger and nodded.

"She might choose Becker." Connor leaned back.

"Yeah. 'Cos Becker's brilliant at dates, isn't he?" He sighed. "Tomorrow, I'm taking my skateboard back to the ARC, no matter what Lester says. I'm not walking from the ADD to security all the time!"

"It's Saturday tomorrow. And you're going shopping with her."

And so the argument ensued about what kind of language was suitable to be used with Rex in the room.

* * *

Connor was precise enough in his predictions about Jess avoiding the drilling hall the following Monday. He was still fed up from hearing about what had happened over and over again on the shopping trip, a story made worse by the offer of a date on Monday evening arriving from Scott directly before they went.

He once strayed too close to the ADD and ended up having to take an extra form down. Lester had fits when he saw the young scientist on his skateboard, but as soon as the situation had been explained to him, he cursed the mess young love caused and went stalking back to his office, determined not to fulfil the duties of office Cupid for that one day.

Matt decided to copy everyone else and avoid the ADD unless he absolutely had to. Whenever he entered, he made sure he always appeared to have enough work to fill his day, week and year so as to brush off any attempts to gossip by Jess.

Abby was nowhere to be seen.

The afternoon wore on and eventually Becker emerged from his section. As soon as the Captain was sighted heading towards the ADD, the rooms cleared as everyone bolted away from they thought could only be a horrendous fight. Becker was going down.

As soon as he stepped into the room, Jess swung around, legs crossed and arms folded. Becker was taken aback by the coldness of her and his hand immediately went to his pocket. He knew he could never defend himself with words, not without saying something which revealed too much, too soon. So, actions it was going to be.

"What?" demanded Jess. He pulled out some chocolate, a rich caramel flavour and held it out to her. Jess stood, advanced forward and accepted the gift.

"It's not orange," Becker said simply, not sure what to say until he could gauge her reaction. Jess stared at it for a second, then looked back up to him.

"And that's supposed to be an apology?" She stomped her foot down and raised her voice. "You called me weak! You insulted me while on a date! Did you realise that? Did you actually comprehend that that was the point of the entire evening?! YOU MADE ME FEEL SO USELESS!"

"I didn't mean to," answered Becker, feebly.

"Then what did you mean? What did you think you could achieve by INSULTING ME?!" Jess poked the chocolate up Becker's nose, the sharp corner digging into him. He struggled to find any words for a minute, never having faced Jess so angry at him before. Normally, she was just so sweet. "WHAT DID YOU MEAN?!"

"I MEANT TO GET YOU OUT OF THERE!" he shouted back, before breathing in and lowering his voice. "I wanted you out of harm's way. Like you said, it was a date and no man wants his girl to die on his date."

Jess took a step back. It was natural to look at the insult alone, but when it came down to it, they were in a dangerous situation. For goodness' sake, she was almost hit by the creature for acting too impulsively. Becker stepped forward and took her hand.

"I wanted to protect you. That's not only my job; that's what I want to do as your friend. To protect you from Scott, because he's a great guy, but he runs in without any clue of what he'd doing and where he's going with anything." Becker sighed. "Maybe it's not my place to do that though. I'm sorry." He took a step back. "Enjoy your evening with Scott."

The Captain started to leave. Jess stood watching his back for a few seconds, before calling out after him.

"Becker. My friend? Just my friend?" Becker turned slowly and Jess saw a hint of anguish on his face. She feared the worst, but tried to remember all the reassurances that Abby had tried to impress on her.

"Jess, I won't steal you off Scott. I'll persuade you to leave him, yes, but just take you, no." He turned to leave, but twisted his head as he made a decision on his head. "Maybe if you become single."

Jess bit back a sob in her throat as she watched him go.

* * *

That evening, Becker watched Scott prepare for his date with a cold certainty that his efforts when so badly that Scott would probably have to cut off her arm for Jess to leave him. He'd told Scott how his date had gone, although he pretended a bunch of armed robbers had stormed in, rather than a dinosaur. It provoked questions, but not ones as complicated as they'd been after the pub.

Becker settled himself down in front of the TV as he tried to distract himself from the fact his friend was making a mistake. He fidgeted for a while, but couldn't relax. How could he stop her? There was only one and he was unsure he wanted to commit to that. Three words which hold a heck of a lot of responsibility.

But he was responsible for her. As a friend. As an admirer. As someone who wished he had the confidence to do something. What had she said? He should have done something. Said something.

He looked at the clock. Scott had left forty minutes ago. This was his last chance. His final opportunity to storm in, summon the courage and say something. His mind was made up. He'd lose Scott as a friend, that much was for certain, but he knew he couldn't live with himself if he saw Jess upset over him.

He sprang up, grabbed his coat and wracked his brains as to where Scott could have taken her. He could track them down. Surely he could. He checked his keys, switched off the light, opened his front door...

And ran straight into Jess.

She was standing on the porch, her hand held up to the doorbell. He saw her mascara was still intact, which surely meant she hadn't been crying, but looking past her, he saw a taxi pull away and no sign of Scott. There was an awkward pause until he stepped back and allowed her to enter, which she did silently.

"I hope I'm not getting in your way. You were just going out, but... I just..."

"It's fine. Jess." He waited for a second, thinking about whether to admit why he was leaving. In the end, he realised he'd decided he was going to do something. Now was better than anywhere else he guessed. "I was going to find you."

Jess' eyes lit up, the streetlight from the outside dancing wildly in her pupils. Becker coughed quietly and closed the door, sure Scott was not about to appear. He gestured to the living room and she smiled slightly, accepting the invitation.

"Why?" She asked, before sitting down on the sofa. "Why were you going to find me? This was Scott's night technically." Becker fiddled with his fingers, then sat in a chair opposite her.

"Just because... I didn't want you to make the mistake. He'd not right for you." She opened her mouth, but he continued. "That doesn't mean I'm right for you either. That's a separate issue. But I know _he's_ not right for you. So I had to stop you. To protect you." He sat back, relieved to get that out. "Now, why are you here?"

Jess blushed and looked down. Becker waited for a while, not afraid of the silence; he wasn't talkative, so he had to be comfortable with it. She eventually looked up at him and slipped her hand delicately into her bag. He frowned as she pulled out a slender block and passed it to him. He immediately knew what went wrong, but it surprised him.

"Is it bad that when it came down to it, after all that happened on your date, this whole competition was decided on the fact that he brought me orange chocolate? Does that make me shallow?" She slumped backwards, finally allowing herself to relax. "He was perfect. Never so great he was intimidating, but seemed to be moulded to fit me. Even his past, it just made me relate to him even more, made me sympathise with him even though he'd done wrong. But as soon as he made a mistake..."

Becker turned the chocolate over in his hands several times. There were little pictures of oranges elegantly drawn on the front and the writing, though swirling and wavy, was a bold orange. He can see why Scott thought Jess would like it; it had the bold colours she was so fond of wearing. He glanced up at her as she trailed off. She responded by sighing and sitting forward again.

"I didn't want to get over it. I went into the first date looking for faults, anything to show he wasn't the right man for me, but I had a wonderful evening. Didn't stop me looking. I just needed an excuse to leave him and I would have done, because in my mind it was still only a temporary arrangement."

"I told you he'd cheated on another woman. That wasn't enough of a fault?" argued Becker, confused.

"I told you. I related to him more, because of it. Told Abby so. That fault was too close to home for me to admit it was bad enough to leave him for; it would have been like... admitting something is wrong with me and that's not what I set out to do."

"Then what did you set out to do?" asked Becker, who had the strangest feeling she was referring to something he didn't know about.

Jess went quiet. Throughout all of this, Becker had remained more or less ignorant of her true intentions, of the reasons she had gone on the date with Scott about two and half months ago. It hadn't gone as planned, but then the plan was for a date without Becker knowing, then let him know if it went well. It went well, but she didn't continue through, because deep down she knew she was just waiting for Becker. As always.

She realised Becker was still waiting for an answer. She couldn't ramble her way out of this one. She wanted him to say something to her. Now, she had to say something back.

"I wanted to date Scott to see if he was good enough... to stop flirting with you for." She picked her words carefully, trying not to expose just how deeply her emotions went; it was far too soon for that.

Becker whistled. He knew they'd been flirting, as much as he deny it, but this... this was coming very close to putting it into words. He let the silence fall for what felt like a long time, even for him. He considered Jess carefully, before asking:

"Was he?"

"I didn't stop. Not until you found out."

Becker stood up and ran his hand through his hair. He stared at the field co-ordinator looked her up and down. She was wearing a blue dress, her hair done perfectly and her make-up applied with care. For another man. A man she had just left. This was not the time for the conversation about them.

"Do you want a cup of tea?" he enquired suddenly. Jess started and frowned at such a strange response to what came dangerously close to a declaration of love. "A cup of tea and we can put on a film. Pick one from the very limited range I possess." He waved over to the pile.

"Becker?"

"Right now, you've just broken up with your boyfriend. Yes?" Jess nodded; she supposed Scott had been a boyfriend technically. "Well, let's take your mind off that and have a friendly night in. He won't be back tonight; he'll have probably gone to his brother's or he'd be back by now. So, we can have a night as friend to distract you from it all."

Jess smiled. That sounded very uncomplicated and simple, a state she'd missed throughout the whole pitiful journey. She slipped her bag down the side of the sofa and kicked off her heels as Becker went to put the kettle on.

She started to look through the DVDs until a thought struck her, as words that had been said earlier that day floated back to her.

"Becker!" she called. Becker appeared, leaning in the doorway. She looked up to him from where she was kneeling. "Now, I'm single." Becker pulled himself upright.

"Not tonight Jess. And maybe... not tomorrow either. I think I need to see if I need a new flatmate and we both need time. A decent amount of time. Let's just be friends for a while."

Jess's heart dipped slightly, but she saw sense in what he said. And hope. There could be a future for them, together, and it looked more likely than it did three months ago.

Hopefully, one day he'd say something more.

_The End._

* * *

**Yes, yes I did it! I left them as friends. Maybe one day it'll get picked up again (though I refer to my note at the start), but for now, I leave them in simple peace (I'll bet Connor and Abby are glad). **

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed including: SadenBecker, InvisibleBlade and primevalyank (thanks for the all amazing, numerous reviews), a Guest (may have been the same person each times – I don't know), Anna and gemma, Prawn Crackers, SveaR, DrPrimeval, Just Ellee, Remixz, BethTHEbuiscuit, mustangsally97. Legolasgirl, EvilNickelbackObssessedTechy and finally Mijo54, who gets the award for reviewing every chapter (Merci!) Possibly one of the most reviewed stories (per chapter) I've had. Been incredible!**

**Thanks also to everyone who favourite the story including GODISAWESOME, InvisibleBlade, Mijo54, Prawn Crackers and primevalyank.**

**Hope you enjoyed the ride! =-)**


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